


Can We Stay At Yours?

by dankou



Series: You and Me Against the World [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, unpleasant home life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:19:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8204126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dankou/pseuds/dankou
Summary: Dorian and Carver go to Dorian’s place to study to help Carver catch up with school work due to being out for a few months due to injury.





	

The First Day celebrations had ended and Carver had insisted that “for once” they should study round Dorian’s house because “Garrett’s boyfriend is extremely annoying”. And so Dorian reluctantly agreed.

  
The Pavus household was rather large and fancy - unnecessarily so, Carver thought, but a quiet enough environment to concentrate in. They settled down in the study which doubled as a library. It was rather old fashioned and spacious but so was the rest of the house; Tevinter families were often more traditional in that sense.

  
Things were going smoothly for the most part; they got a lot of work done, Carver made some awful science puns that Dorian heeded with a witty reply, and there was a genuinely comfortable atmosphere. Carver had been catching up with schoolwork quite swimmingly after the accident, actually, with Dorian’s tutoring. He was so relieved that Dorian was in most of his classes because he’s an excellent teacher - much better than their actual teachers, he thought.

  
Carver knew not to make any moves on Dorian near his parents as he was aware of their stance on their type of relationship and thus they kept it a secret - from them, anyhow. So to be safe, he refrained in case the Pavus’s burst in unexpectedly. Carver was always quite open about his relationship at home as much as he grew irritated with the teasing from his older brother. Bethany would join in at times too, though because she’s friends with Dorian too, she would distribute the teasing more or less equally between them both.

  
“My parents should be home soon. Perhaps we should relocate… to yours, possibly?” Dorian suggested hastily soon after they had finished studying for the day. Carver slumped back into his chair and huffed,  
“What’s the rush? No doubt that bloody Anders is round mine again. Urgh, the way he hangs off my brother constantly is sickening.”  
“Oh, it’s not _that_ bad,” Dorian commented wryly, taking pleasure at his boyfriend’s pettiness.   
Carver shot him a defensive look,   
“Oh yeah? Try waking up during the night to get some food and seeing him practically naked on top of my brother on the sofa making out with him and then tell me how bad it is! There are some things you just wish you could unsee, yanno?”  
“I’m starting to think he does it purely to annoy you,” Dorian teased.  
“Oh, ha-bloody- _ha,_ ” Carver pouted as Dorian chuckled at his expense, though Carver found he could never stay grumpy at Dorian for long and so a smile tugged at his lips as he shook his head. Carver loved Dorian’s laugh; it was always smooth and charming whereas his own laugh was more of a dorky giggle accompanied by wheezing if he was laughing hard enough.

  
They both must have gotten distracted as neither of them heard the front door. Shouting coming from another room in the house startled them both. Carver jolted up wincing slightly, facing in the direction the bellowing came from,  
“Wow, your folks seem pretty mad about _something._ ”  
“When are they not?” Dorian’s voice was small and empty of all that playfulness from moments before. Carver turned to face his lover with concern for the sudden change of tone. Dorian sat stiffly in his seat, shoulders and face more tense than Carver has ever seen him. Carver wasn’t an idiot (as much as he often felt he was) and quickly pieced two-and-two together.  
“This…” he spoke softly, “This is why you wanted to leave so badly, isn’t it?”  
Dorian remained silent and averted his eyes away, but that was enough to answer Carver’s question.

  
Carver sighed and contemplated what to do in this situation. He couldn’t sit with Dorian, hold him in his arms and give him kisses in case his parents came crashing through the door at any given moment, nor could he be sure if it was safe enough for them both to pass through to the front door. But he couldn’t just let Dorian feel on edge like this. So he decided he’d go for the escape option - he’d be his bodyguard if he must. As long as he could get Dorian somewhere better he didn’t care what he had to personally endure, though he’d prefer it if there were to be as little hassle as possible.  
Carver then packed his things away quickly, reached for his crutch, slumped his bag over his shoulder and gently nudged Dorian’s arm.   
“C’mon then. I hear mother’s cooking a lamb broth tonight.”  
Dorian peered up at Carver, eyebrows furrowed, and spoke in a hushed tone,  
“We can’t just wander through when my parents are like this!”  
“Your parents seem a bit preoccupied to notice us,” Carver shrugged.  
“My father always notices,” Dorian responded bluntly.  
Carver, balancing on his crutch, reached for Dorian’s hand and nonabrasively pulled him up onto his feet.   
“Not if we’re sneaky, he won’t!”  
Dorian couldn’t help but crack a smile at his nonchalant demeanour, and so he obliged.   
“Alright. But if we are spotted, let me handle my parents. You can be a bit..”  
“‘A bit’ _what?”_  
“Defensive.”  
“I’m not!”   
Dorian raised an eyebrow unconvinced.   
“Fine, fine,” Carver resigned, “Let’s just get outta here, yeah?”

  
And so they headed for the front door as planned. So far, so good; they made it out of the study, through the living room and towards the hallway for the front door. But things are never as easy as you’d want them to be.

  
“Ah, Dorian,” a low voice spoke calmly from behind them causing them to freeze in their place and awkwardly turn towards the man in question.  
“Father.” It was Halward Pavus. They had a striking resemblance, Carver thought, but he had a more unsettling vibe disguised as compassion - Carver had seen his type before.  
“I didn’t know you had…” Halward’s gaze averted up at Carver, meeting him dead in the eyes, _“Company.”_  
Carver stood more at the defense at the coldness of Halward’s tone, though he knew not to act further on Dorian’s instructions. He wasn’t about to go back on his word - not now when Dorian needed him to play it cool.  
“We were studying. As you may have noticed by the cast on his leg he hasn’t been in school recently and needed someone to help him catch up.”  
Halward stared at Carver disapprovingly as though it was Carver’s own fault for getting hit by a speeding car. Or perhaps Halward was wishing for worse so he couldn’t spend time with his son, Carver couldn’t decide. Either way, he could feel himself growing angrier.   
“Yes. I see.” Halward finally relieved Carver of his sight and once again met eyes with Dorian, “And where are you heading to now?”   
“I’ll be escorting Carver home and then staying the night at Bethany’s.”   
Carver was confused at first but didn’t utter a word. I guess it did make sense not to tell his parents that they were related, let alone twins. It was safer that way, Carver supposed. 

  
The silence was short but tense.

  
“Then I shall see you tomorrow. Expect a phone call later so I can see how you’re doing. And don’t forget you have your violin lesson on Thursday.”  
“Yes, father. How could I _possibly_ forget my violin lesson?”

  
Soon, Halward disappeared into another room and Dorian and Carver headed out the door. They didn’t exchange conversation until they got onto another street.

  
 _“‘Expect a phone call to see how I’m doing’?_ No doubt it’s just to make sure I’m not doing anything he doesn’t approve of!” Dorian rambled with frustration, “Playing the protective caring father whenever it seems appropriate, I suppose. As per usual.”   
“Your father is a bit of an ass,” Carver retorted through his teeth.  
“He never used to be this bad,” Dorian sighed, “Though, I guess he never did like anything that could threaten his views.”  
Carver threw his free arm around Dorian’s shoulders,  
“Well, hey, at least we’re out of there now. It could’ve been worse.”  
“The day’s still young,” Dorian grinned and wrapped an arm around Carver’s waist, evidently more at ease than before. A warm feeling swarmed in Carver’s stomach seeing Dorian bounce back to his usual charming ways.   
“Let’s never study at yours again, yeah?”  
“Agreed.”   
The pair chuckled, making light of the situation as they headed to Carver’s place.

  
“Y’know, if yer old folks are ever like that in the future you know you can always stay at mine, yeah?”  
“There’s a reason I spend all of my spare time at yours, Carver.”  
He did have a point, Dorian did spend an awful lot of time at his house - he practically lives there nowadays.   
“Here I thought you came to see me!”  
“Oh, you’re definitely a bonus,” Dorian teased.  
“Gee, thanks!”   
They laughed together once again. Carver liked spending time alone like this with Dorian; it was one of the rare times he felt he could allow himself to relax completely. Similarly, Dorian enjoyed being able to be open about his relationship with Carver away from home and not have to worry about his parents judgement.  
“‘Kay, but in all seriousness, my home is your home, yeah? Mum already treats you as part of the family now so it’s, like, official n’ stuff. Expect an itchy jumper for your birthday, though. Home knitted n’ all.”  
“Sounds wonderful,” Dorian replied in complete sincerity. Carver scoffed,  
“Have you seen my mother’s knitting? You’ll be eating those words, I tell ya.” Dorian sniggered at Carver’s remark and smiled up at him, Carver returning the smile,  
“Can’t wait!”  
Carver pulled Dorian close and planted a kiss on his forehead,   
“I love you. Ya know that, right?”  
Dorian closed his eyes and immersed himself in Carver’s embrace.  
“I love you, too, Amatus.”

 


End file.
